An African-American math teacher who had been given three warnings for foul language and eventually was dismissed after she was found to have called students "lazy n--gers" may be given her job back after a technicality in her firing, WJXT reports.

According to the news station, Florida teacher Joyce Quiller ran a "profanity-laced classroom" and called her students "stupid" and "ignorant" and casually dropped the "n-word." And she could soon be back teaching after a judge ruled that the school district did not properly fire the 51-year-old. According to WJXT, the Duval School District has a three-step protocol when firing a union-contracted worker.

Quiller, who taught at-risk students at Jean Ribault High School in Jacksonville, was immediately terminated in February when she should have first been suspended without pay, according to the judge's ruling, the news station reports.

"The school board skipped step 3 and went directly to termination, even though, if the allegations were true, they would have amounted to what is considered a minor offense," Reginald Luster, Quiller's legal consultant, told WJXT.

"[It was] not some type of severe misconduct on behalf of Ms. Quiller," added Luster, who contends Quiller never used such language. "It does not warrant the termination."

Board members will meet next week to decide Quiller's fate. Even with the judge's ruling, the board could find a legal loophole not to reinstate her, and Quiller could appeal that decision, the news station notes.

According to the WJXT, Quiller had been warned three times for using profanity since 2001.